Tips for Designing, Furnishing, and Decorating a Mexican-style Dollhouse

Dollhouse kits and miniatures come in only a few standard styles, usually periods from British history. However, Mexico has beautiful historical architecture that would make a lovely dollhouse. There are not as many miniatures available for sale for a Mexican-style dollhouse, but it is certainly possible to create a Mexican scene by mixing and matching available miniatures and creating some miniatures yourself.

A Historic Mexican Dollhouse

Spain has various periods of architecture, but the period style that can be found throughout Mexico is from the Baroque period. This was the style of architecture found in Spain's colonies in America. In the colonies, this style was influenced by Native American and Moorish architecture. Look in your local library or on Amazon.com for books that may contain pictures of this style to inspire your dollhouse design.

Designing the Mexican Style Dollhouse

Because there are no dollhouse kits available in this style, you will have to design and build your dollhouse yourself. Mexican houses were built with concrete or adobe. Families that could afford one would have a live-in maid. When designing your Spanish Colonial dollhouse, the maid's quarters should be attached to the kitchen. The Mexican maid would be in the kitchen most of the day. Unlike a modern home, there is no need for the kitchen to be in a central location in the Mexican dollhouse, because only the maid would spend time there. A dining room would usually be on the other side of the kitchen, where the maid could serve the food.

Furnishing the Mexican Style Dollhouse

You can find pictures to help you furnish your dollhouse on the websites of furniture vendors specializing in colonial reproductions. During the Spanish Colonial period in Mexico, furniture was made out of wood or wrought iron. Wood furniture often featured elaborate carvings or paintings, especially religiously inspired paintings. This period featured a lot of ornamentation and decorations, so your Mexican dollhouse should include the furniture needed to display statues and carvings.

Decorating the Mexican Style Dollhouse

The Mexican dollhouse should be colorful and ornamented. Some walls may be orange, red, yellow, or other bright colors. Wooden furniture can be left plain, or painted with any variety of colors. There are many artisan crafts relating to this period, and art related to Catholicism was popular. Paintings and carvings of saints were popular home decoration. You can print out a miniature version of a painting of a saint and paste it onto a small piece of wood.

The dollhouse can showcase the traditional tiling and earthenware dishes that would be found in a Mexican style house. Miniature earthenware jugs and plates are easy to find in a miniature or dollhouse store. To put tiling in your dollhouse, find a Mexican or Spanish Colonial style tile pattern online, and print out miniature tiles on paper, which can then be glued along your wall or floor.

Some Mexican miniatures are available from www.mexicoetc.com.

Adding a Miniature Mexican Style Garden

As a final touch, you can attach a miniature garden to the dollhouse kitchen. Your dollhouse might feature a small, tiled patio, with chairs for relaxing. Some miniature potted trees and shrubs along with a miniature canary cage will add life to the garden scene.